His mother was among the hundreds who came out to remember the little boy known as “Marty” in the neighborhood.

A sign now sits outside the family’s home to remind everyone in the area that he died a hero.

“Just regular people in the neighborhood, they donated it and put it up,” said Marty’s cousin, Ebony Hullenquest.

Hullenquest said her cousin had a love for toy cars and was always seen riding his bike in the neighborhood.

A memorial fund has been set up and donations are being accepted at any Wells Fargo branch. Just let the teller know you are donating to the “Keys For Marty” fund.

She said her younger son looked up to the courageous eight-year-old

“That was his role model,” said Hullenquest. “When you saw him, you saw Marty.”

Within hours of the crime, detectives identified and located the suspect, who was medically evaluated before being charged with the crimes.

Initially, detectives were given information that the suspect was an adult white male with scraggly facial hair, but later determined the victim had been threatened and intimidated by the suspect, who is a teenage black male.

56 comments

Betty

This crime is beyond evil: An 8-year-old child (Hero) is murdered trying to protect his sister.
I hope little Marty is remembered for not how he died, but why he died — doing what so many adults fail to do — protecting another human being.
Praying that Marty’s sister recovers, both physically and emotionally, from this horrific crime.

Charge that punk as an adult and to the fullest extent possible! Marty was an honorable person and a hero for making the ultimate sacrifice to save his sister. My condolences go out to his family and friends.

Betty

subhuman |səbˈ(h)yoōmən|
Adjective:
of a lower order of being than the human.
• Zoology (of a primate) closely related to humans.
• derogatory (of people or their behavior) not worthy of a human being; debased or depraved : he regards all PR people as subhuman.
Noun:
a subhuman creature or person.

Carol

david

He needs help? No the 8 year old boy did. His sister needs help too. Also how are you going to make this about race? He forced himself on a girl and killed her brother for trying to stop it. They both were African Americans. The only thing he needs help with is climbing into ol sparky.

Ann Carson

Renee merritt

I WOULD FIRST LIKE TO GIVE MY CONDOLENCES TO THE MOTHER OF THE SE CHILDREN. I HAD A DAUGHTER’S WHO LIVED ON PLAZA VIEW WITH CHILDREN THE SAME AGE. I CAN NOT I MARINE THIS HAPPENING TO MY GRANDCHILREN. I KNOW WE ALWAYS ASK WHY. BUT GOD HAS SOMETHING MORE IN STORE FOR MARTY. I WILL PRAY THAT HIS SISTER HEALS WITH TIME. MY HEART ACHES.

Laura

Latosha scott please stop. I know you are trying to impersonate a black woman. If you really are a black woman, you are a sad individual and need psychiatric help…. by the way I really am a black woman.

This is such a sad story. Prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law.

denise

We don’t have all the facts. Sorry the baby boy died but what else is the 12 year old lying about? And how was the 16 year old caught so soon. Was he well known in that neighborhood? Did the 12 year old know him?

Neko

Lori, that is a great comment and food for thought. I wonder if the 12 year old knew this 16 year old boy. Could he have been a family friend, or could they have been in a relationship or a one sided relationship? That would explain why there was a discrepancy(or lie) in the description of the boy. Could she have been trying to protect him?

SurroundedbySciencehaters

You obviously have not done any research on the effects of trauma, particularly interpersonal violence, and especially sexual crime on people, especially children. You obviously have not worked with sexually abused children, or even sexually abused adults. This child was just attacked and sexually assaulted, it’s possible she also watched her brother die, and at the hands of the same man who just sexually assaulted her. Abusers very often threaten their victims with even worse or more frequent abuse, and also might threaten to murder their victim if they say anything. Abusers might threaten to abuse or kill the victims family or pets. So imagine: you are a twelve year old girl playing outside with your brother. You are attacked and sexually assaulted. Your brother is killed. You are traumatized from a sexual assault. You are traumatized from the murder of your brother. You are threatened with more harm or death to yourself and possibly your loved ones by the man who just assaulted you and killed your brother. You know he is capable of sexual assault, he just assaulted you. You know he is capable of murder, he just killed your brother. He threatens you if you don’t lie. What do you do to stay alive?

Johnnie G

There seems to be more to this story than is being told. The suspect has already been tried and found guilty on this list. Regardless if he is guilty or not the death penalty has no place in a civilised society.

If he is found to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt then yes he should be put to death – you don’t try to rehabilitate a mad dog, you kill it asap so it does not hurt anyone else. Anyone who kills in such a callous manner is nothing more than a mad dog and should be treated accordingly.

This continued nonsense of the press not revealing the names of minors accused of committing crimes is a quaint relic from a time when a murder by a juvenile was rare and ALL juveniles were considered redeemable. That time has long past, as most juveniles seek to emulate thug sensibilities, assured of anonymity and indulgent, misplaced leniency and hardly phased by redemption.

Carol

The teenager needs serious jail time, he beat a child to death. Let him off easy he’ll do it again. They want to act like adults treat them as such. The girl’s brother dies trying to help and she lies about what happened, something’s fishy ! R.I.P. young man

SurroundedbySciencehaters

You’ve obviously never worked with abused children, or even abused adults! Frequently the abuser threatens to abuse the victim more and or worse, threatens to abuse their family, threatens to kill the victim, their family, and or their pets, tells the victim no one will believe them, threatens to ruin the person and their family’s reputation, etc. A child who has just been sexually assaulted, and likely watched her brother die at the hands of her attacker, who is then threatened by the man who attacked her and who she knew just killed her brother would possibly lie at first to protect herself and/or her family. In fact, that’s exactly what the article said, that after being attacked by this man, and the man murdering her brother, the attacker threatened her and that’s why she lied at first.

Carol

Magenta

You do realize the sister was attacked and sexually assaulted, right? As a child, having something so deplorable happen to you that you can’t even process what’s going on around yourself… and you expect her to recover immediately after that? That is not a fair thing to pin fault on the girl for not fighting back for her brother when she herself has been hurt beyond what she could comprehend at that time. This was a terrible thing to happen to both children, and it sickens me that there are folks who don’t hesitate to pin the blame on the victims rather than the assailant.

Tee

@David…..It became a race issue when the girl 1st said her attacker & murderer of her brother was an “Adult white male with scraggly facial hair”. Im sure if this case was flipped it would get national attention.

manalishi

Magenta

My sincerest condolences to the family of these two young children. I know they probably aren’t revealing a whole lot here if it means it would compromise the result of this case, but whatever happens, I do hope that you get the answers and justice you deserve from such an unjust act.

Carol

This case & child deserve answers, truthful answers to what happened, the sister made a grave mistake when she lied about the attacker !! Question, what was really going on & was she covering for the attacker ??

Marie

Rose

Whoever was involved in the senseless murder should be prosecuted for 1st degree murder. My heart goes out to this family and my thoughts and prayers are with them. Know that this sweet boy is in the arms of Jesus.

Dawn

Okay now GROWN people. This is a tragedy for all. Lets not get petty and start throwing blame on anyone else but who did the crime. Tempers are heavy at this time and we all have to realize there is still a person that has to live this over and over and over again…..the little girl. Let’s not argue and just pray for all involved.